New tutor - advice needed please

Eleven Plus (11+) in Northern Ireland

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topmoggie
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:11 pm
Location: Belfast, Down

New tutor - advice needed please

Post by topmoggie »

Hello, I am a final year trainee teacher & have been asked to tutor a girl for her 11+, unfortunatly I am unsure what I should be doing, should I find out where she is having problems & work on developing them & also look at past papers or should I be going through the whole Maths, English & Science curriculum? I have never tutored anyone before & I dont want to harm her chances of doing well so when I found this site I thought I would ask for advice.

I was also wondering about how much to charge?

Would be very grateful for any help and advice,
Many thanks
Sam
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Post by yoyo123 »

I know your 11+ is different from at school and where she thonks she mneed steh extra practise. Perhaps get her to write you a letter, that way you can see what her writing, spelling and construction are like.

I would do some past papers or similar so that you can pinpoint which areas you need to work on. Then find extra work to target these weaknesses. There is a great deal available on the web and I'm sure you have some material from school or college too. Practise times tables, spelling, vocabulary as well as revising the topics for science and maths.

Nearer the time you may want to do some practice papers again in order to accustom her to working under exam conditions and to gain some exam technique.. I tend to get the children to do the papers at home and then we mark them and look to see where they went wrong. I then prepare extra work for the next week . I try to make my lessons quite fun and use plenty of games and puzzles

How much to charge?? It varies according to the area and the demand for places. I charge £25 an hour, the minimum teh agency suggested. I would earn approx £30 an hour doing supply so figured that was about right for me.
topmoggie
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:11 pm
Location: Belfast, Down

Post by topmoggie »

Thank you for your help. I have wanted to try tutoring for a while but was not sure what to do & now someone is interested Im starting to panic!! :oops:
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Post by yoyo123 »

I did too and had been teaching 13 years, once you strat it's not HALF as bad as it seems...


(but I still panic with each new pupil). The thing is no two children are the same and if I am to give value for money I reason I have to tailor the lessons to the particular child.

I thought they were going to stop secondary selection in norn iron? or has it been given a reprieve for a while?
topmoggie
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:11 pm
Location: Belfast, Down

Post by topmoggie »

this is the last year of it here, apparently but as a student who is about to enter the world of teaching I do not feel prepared at all. Although really I have no need to panic as there are no / very few primarey teaching jobs here anyway so I probably have a year or two to prepare for it!!
yoyo123
Posts: 8099
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:32 pm
Location: East Kent

Post by yoyo123 »

It does get better!

I had been teaching for 4 years when I suddenly realised I could breathe and teach at the same time!! :lol:
11+mummy
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jan 28, 2008 3:16 pm

Tutoring

Post by 11+mummy »

Hi, my daughter completed her 11+ in November, and we are nervously waiting on the results on Saturday. She had a tutor who was a teacher at her primrary school. He charged £20 per 1 hour session. His thinking was to do it on Monday nights as the children tend to be fresher then. He gave ger the pack 1-4 of papers which can be purchased in Easons (1 per week for first four weeks), went through it with her in the hour doing corrections. He continued on like this from March - June. Then June and July he mostly concentrated on English as that was her weak subject. He continued to give a paper per week at the same time. By 3rd week in October, he pulled back the work load so as to relax her coming up to the exam. Hope this helps.
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